Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thankful!

There is so much that I am thankful for this year and I can't help but feel so lucky for everything in my life.
  • for my wonderful husband who provides for our family and who loves me and Kayla so much!
  • for my healthy and beautiful daughter who makes me smile on a daily basis.
  • for my mother who loves me and my own family unconditionally.
  • for wonderful friends.
  • for the job and steady income that I have.
  • for Kayla's day care who takes care of her while we are at work.
  • for my iPhone and iPad.
  • for Starbucks and Coke. Ha!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Fun Checks

I can't even remember the last time I wrote a check. I haven't had a checkbook in years! Every place imaginable to mankind takes plastic or cash so why have a checkbook, right? Until recently, not having a checkbook was fine with me. But I guess not every place takes plastic. I go to the bank/ATM every Friday to pull money out for Kayla's day care (who does not accept plastic!!!). It got pretty old quick. Banks are awful on Fridays!

So I searched all over the internet to find the cheapest place to get checks made. I was not about to pay my bank a ridiculous amount of money for this. Thanks to Walmart Checks (who even knew they did this?!) I was able to order super cute preppy checks for less than $10. That's a steal in my opinion. Now paying for day care every Friday won't hurt as bad since I'll be writing on my pretty checkbook :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Almost 4 nights into the week and still no take-out!

I am counting from Sunday here. I don't even want to know how much money we spend on eating out, take out and then add on my weekly grocery bill to that. It's a bit insane that I grocery shop almost every week and yet we still eat out! Madness, I tell you!


But I am trying to domesticate myself a bit more and feed my family a home-cooked meal every evening. Somewhere between giving birth to now - the cooking woman in me disappeared. I used to love cooking. I was all about it. I enjoyed the time spent in the kitchen. It gets a bit hectic from the hours of 5 and 630pm. Cooking a meal after work just seems too much some days. Kayla's been at day care all day and all we want to do is hang out and play.


This past Saturday my mom came to visit and I was able to grocery shop alone and cook dinner before J got home from work. In fact, food was done and waiting for him. I decided to make Pioneer Woman's spaghetti & meat balls. I just love her website and plan on getting her cookbook. Everyone loved the meal. I think the best compliment came from J - he said it tasted just like what you would get from a restaurant who makes their food from scratch. Kayla loved it, too and my mom even took some home with her. It was so good we had leftovers for dinner on Sunday.


I have already started looking into what I'm cooking for Thanksgiving and I even have a plan for the leftover turkey. It's just the 3 of us but I am off this year for the first time in 4 years! I am spending the day at home with Kayla - watch the parade on TV and louge and then cook a feast for our little family!


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Christmas Cards

I remember getting so excited last year that I can finally send Christmas cards with our family's picture on it. But the combination of working full time and being a new mom to a 4 month old baby kinda took over my life. I couldn't keep up with an infant then but running around a toddler now is no joke. But I am determined! I looked early on for a photographer in our new town to make sure that I can schedule a session. Of course it took me till the beginning of October to actually book a session but at least we have/ had one.

I was so excited for this session and of course come the day of, J couldn't get off work early. Go figure! But we were able to reschedule for another day and my hopes for the perfect family Christmas card is still alive.

This past couple of weeks have been spent online looking for the perfect card. There are just way too many vendors and hundreds of designs out there that it's a bit hard to choose. Thanks to my Google Reader and blog-reading addiction I came across this awesome promotion by Shutterfly!

This helped me narrow down the search and who can really turn down free stuff right?! I have used Shutterfly numerous times for prints - it is super convenient because I don't have to go anywhere to pick up the prints and the quality is always good. Not only that but everything is delivered right to my front door. Shutterly also offers personalized mugs and photo wall art. I think this will make perfect presents to grandparents who can't get enough of their grandkids!

Now I have to decide which card to order.